Meet Angel Pan

This series uses QFIN’s platform to showcase hidden or up and coming Canadian talent.

 Today we have Angel Pan (she/her). She is a third-year fashion student at Parsons NYC from Toronto, Ontario. She is continuing her art studies into university after graduating from Arts Unionville, a four-year advanced art program concurrent with her high school education. Her brand focuses on sustainability and abstraction – a deviation from mainstream fashion. All of her pieces are handmade with passion. Here, she answers a few of our questions about what pushes her to be a designer and her views about fashion.

When did you realize you wanted to pursue fashion? And as a Canadian, why Parsons?

“There was never a specific moment I made a decision that fashion was for me. It’s always been a slow realization in everything that I do pointing my identity towards fashion as the medium that I’m truly passionate about. Like most people, a lot of interest in fashion started as a kid, loving the aspect of dress and identity. When I started going into fine arts in high school and then eventually maturing and finding my own sophisticated style and mentality, it was the feeling of dissatisfaction art gave me that started to raise questions. I believe it was around that time I started exploring more into fashion as something that is more suitable for me. As a result, because I’m a quite ambitious person, I researched into the pathways that would give me the best education and opportunities for me to succeed in the industry.”

Angel notes that the Canadian fashion industry is young, therefore lacking in identity and resources, which is what pushed her to pursue post-secondary education outside of Canada. She hopes to return after gaining experience abroad to help grow the fashion industry in Canada. 

Who do you take your inspiration from?

“I take a lot of inspiration often from my Chinese culture and not just traditional but modern Chinese culture such as the experiences growing up in North America as a first-generation immigrant. I’m very interested in intersectionality within fashion, exploring all the discourses and subject positions I’m a part of. Vivienne Tam is a designer that I respect in the field who does this. Aesthetically, I admire Comme des Garcons and Maison Margiela. I also love all types of subcultures Harajuku, cyberpunk and retro romantics are a few of my favorites.”

 Could you explain the background behind some of your pieces?

“Floral Wave and Manic and Pixie are two of the pieces that I created to surround the topic of female representation in media. For my Floral Wave Dress, I based it off of a Chinese saying “她就是个花瓶” which means ‘she’s just a flower vase,’ a derogative describing a female that is pretty which automatically connotates that she is useless and dumb, metaphorically like a flower vase. In Chinese culture, being pretty or cleaning up your appearance well is a binary to how intelligent you are. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is also an American archetype in media that describes an extremely feminine character who exists solely for the growth of the main male character. Through my pieces, I wanted to give limelight and substance to these characters, reconstructing their identity to be the main characters of the story.”

What are your thoughts on sustainability within the fashion industry? Do you plan on incorporating any sustainable methods into your own designs? 

“In short, sustainability within the fashion industry is long overdue and as designers, we have a lot to make up for how damaging industry practices are on the environment. I’m currently interning for a brand called ADIFF who is connecting all the issues of sustainability with racial inequality (BLM) and the effects of Covid-19. Environmental racism and classism are real, POC and low-income people are always affected the most when pandemics occur and class and racial divides are that much more apparent. As a middle-class POC, I will always advocate for racial inequality and sustainability. However, I’m not black nor severely low-income so I will keep doing my job of learning about their experiences and hopefully, one day, will be able to fully integrate the best sustainable and equal practices into the fashion system and my own brand.”

What are your plans for the future? Say next 5 years?

“I’m currently freelancing in the fashion industry and hand producing clothing to sell under Angel Pan Studio. My plans for the future or the next 5 years is to work under a few companies to gain industry experience and continue to freelance for the experience. I don’t think I’m ready to invest in my own brand and possibly don’t have the plans to ever to. The fashion industry is severely saturated, and I believe my skills are better suited to help another company grow and change rather than start building from the ground up. It is a personal philosophy that I believe is more sustainable.”

What are some of your go-to pieces for the S/S 2020 season?

“My go-to piece for 2020 Spring/Summer is face masks! 2020 is the year to implement face mask culture into North America as they not only protect against Covid-19 right now but also everyone should own face masks for the health and safety of others when you have the flu or a possible sickness/cough. In Asia, it is common practice to own one and an accessory much like a hat or shoes. I definitely recommend everyone to invest in a fabric mask with interchangeable filters for 2020.”

Where can we follow you to see your upcoming works?

“I have an Instagram at @angelpan_studio and a portfolio site at angelpanstudio.com. Feel free to check out more of my works, dm me with questions about going to fashion school in New York, or even questions about the fashion industry! Thank you!” 

With that, a big thank you to Angel for taking the time to answer our questions about her thoughts on her designs and as a student about the industry. We hope to see more works from her in the future!